Gurdjieff Ode No. 1

In life a man may get a legacy
and after, live, not doing anything, 
but in the work, this is not happening,
all equal and all beggars equally.

Rhyming Isaiah, Chapter 51

All you who, saving righteousness, pursue,
me, listen to, and, who, the LORD, seek, you.
The rock, consider, from which you were hewn,
and, from which you were dug, the quarry’s pit.
To Abraham, your father, look to him,
and Sarah, too, who, birth to you, she gave.
He was the only one when him I bade,
I blessed him and, him, numerous, I made.
For Zion, to, the LORD will comfort give,
and on her ruins he will, pity, have;
he, into Eden, will transform her wastes,
the garden of the LORD, her deserts, make;
both joy and gladness, in her, will be found,
thanksgiving, music, and of song, the sound.

My people, listen to me and give heed
to me, my nation, what goes forth from me:
instruction, and the way that it’s defined,
my judgment will shine forth just like a light.
My justice suddenly approaches near,
and my deliverance has now appeared.
It’s judgments of the nations, my arm makes;
the islands, coasts, their hope in me, will place,
for the protection of my arm, they’ll wait.
Your eyes, raise to the heavens, and, there, look,
down on the earth; how, they disperse like smoke,
the heavens, and the earth, how it wears out
like clothing, and all its inhabitants
who dwell there, they, like vermin, die with gnats;
but ever, my salvation will remain, 
and, shall, my justice, never be dismayed.

To me, now listen, you, who know what’s right,
my people, you, who have it in your hearts,
my teaching: never fear the people’s taunts,
don’t be dismayed when they’re reviling you
for like a garment, moths will, them, consume,
like how the grubs and worms will eat the wool;
but my deliverance, forever, will
be, and salvation, my, is to them all,
the generations, it will never fail.

Now clothe yourself in strength! Awake, awake!
Arm of the LORD, awake as in the days
of old, the generations, we once knew!
Was it not you, who, Rahab, split in two,
who pierced the dragon, you who ran him through?
Was it not you who dried up all the seas,
the waters of the great abyss, so deep;
who made a way, out of the sea, its depths
for the redeemed to pass through on a path?
Those whom the LORD has ransomed, that is why
they will return and enter in with joy
to Zion with their songs; their heads are crowned
with everlasting joy, how they’re endowed
with joy and gladness, they both flee away,
their sorrow and their sighing, they’re allayed.

I, it is I who comforts you, then why
are you afraid of one who soon must die,
a mortal man whose fate, what it is like,
the grass that fades. You have forgotten him,
the LORD, your maker, who has outstretched them,
the heavens, and the earth’s foundations laid.
Continually, you fear throughout the day,
because of the oppressor’s fur’ious way,
who, on destruction, he is bent. But where
is the oppressor’s fury now? From there,
those who’re oppressed, how they shall be released.
They shall not die, the Pit, they shall not see,
nor shall they die there lacking food to eat.
For I’m the LORD your God who stirs the sea
up so that its waves roar–what is his name?
The LORD of hosts, and in your mouth I placed
my words and hidden you beneath its shade,
the shadow of my hand; them, I out-splayed,
the heavens, and how all of those I laid,
the earth’s foundations, and to Zion said,
“You are my people,” you, whom I have claimed.

Arouse yourself, Jerusalem, rise up!
It’s you who have, it, at the LORD’s hand, drunk,
the bowl of staggering, down, you have supped 
its bottom dregs, that of his wrath, the cup.
Among all of the children she has born,
to guide her, there is not a single one;
there is no one to, by the hand, her, steer,
among all of the children she has reared.
Disaster, double, has befallen you.
There is no one to sympathize with you.
It’s pillage, ruin, famine, that you knew,
and too the sword, who’s there to comfort you?
Your children all have fainted and they lie,
there at the head of ev’ry street just like
an antelope caught in a hunter’s net.
They have, of the LORD’s wrath, received a glut,
of your God, they received his full rebuke.

Therefore, hear this, you who are wounded, drunk,
it’s what you are, but not with wine.  Thus says
your sovereign LORD, your God who pleads their cause,
that of his people: I have, from your hand,
the cup of staggering, removed it, and
you’ll no more drink from, of, the bowl, my wrath.
The hands of those, I will put it into,
tormentors, your, commanded you, those who,
“Bow down so that we may walk over you”;
your back, you flattened, to be like the ground,
just like a street for them to walk upon.

Rhyming Isaiah, Chapter 50

These are his words, those spoken by the LORD:
Where is your mother’s bill, that of divorce
by which, away, I put her in that place,
or, to which creditor have I conveyed
you? No, it was because of all your sins,
why you were sold, and why she was dismissed
was for your crimes.  Why was nobody there
when I came? Why did no one answer me
when I called? Is it too short to redeem,
my hand? Or has my power been impaired
to save? How it is by this, my rebuke,
I dry the sea up. How, them, all, I make,
the rivers into deserts.  Their fish stink,
because they die of thirst for water’s lack.
I clothed the heavens totally in black,
and made their covering from cloth for sacks.

A well-trained tongue, the Lord God’s given me
so that I’d know how, to the weary, speak,
of consolation, words, and in a timely way.
Each morning, sharp, how he’s, my hearing, made,
like a disciple, so I, listen, may.
The LORD God, he has opened up my ear
and I, rebellious, was neither, nor
did I turn backwards, how: defiantly.
My back, I offered, to those who struck me,
to those who plucked my beard, I gave my cheeks;
from insult, spitting, and, I did not shield
my face. But he, the LORD God will help me;
therefore, how I will never be disgraced;
therefore, like flint, the way I’ve set my face,
and I know I shall not be put to shame.
The one who’s at my side, he clears my name.
Who is it that will ‘gainst me bring a case?
Let us appear together in the court.
Whoever will ‘gainst me, my cause, dispute?
Let him approach so he can, me, confront.
Look, it’s the Lord GOD, to my help, he comes.
Who will declare me guilty?  All of them
will be devoured like clothes a moth consumes.

Whoever that’s among you fears the LORD
and listens to his servant’s voice you heard?
Which of you walks in darkness but does not
see anything because there is no light?
Let him put, in the LORD’s name, all his trust,
and on his God, rely until the last.
But all of you are kindlers of the fire,
and firebrands, those that you have set alight,
walk in the flames, the ones your fires ignite,
and by the light made by the flares you burnt.
At my hands, recompense, this is your fate:
in torment, you will lie down in that place.

Rhyming Isaiah, Chapter 49

O coastlands, listen to me and now pay
attention, peoples, you, from far away!
The LORD called me before when I was born,
while I was in my mother’s womb, how he,
me, named.  My mouth, he made like a sharp sword,
and in the shadow of his hand concealed
me; like a polished arrow, he, me, made,
and in his quiver, he, away, me, hid.
“You are my servant,” and, to me, he said,
“you’re Is’rael, in whom I’ll be glorified.”
But I said, “Futile, has my toiling been,
for vanity and nothing, have I spent
my strength; yet surely, it is with the LORD,
my cause, and, with my God, is my reward.”

And now the LORD has spoken, who formed me
inside the womb, his servant, so, to be,
to, Jacob, back to him, I’d somehow bring,
and, gathered to him, Is’rael, that, might be,
so I might rise to honor in his sight,
the LORD’s, and, be my strength, how my God might–
the LORD says, “It is something that’s too light,
that you should be my servant so to raise
the tribes of Jacob, up, and to restore,
of Is’rael, the survivors.  You, I’ll make
a light unto the nations of the world,
that my salvation may, throughout the earth
reach there, its furthest bounds.  Thus says the LORD
of Is’rael, the Redeemer, all these words,
the Holy One, to one who is abhorred,
to one deeply despised, the rulers’ slave:
“When kings see you, this, how they will behave,
they’ll stand up, and the princes fall prostrate
because of how, the LORD, who’s full of faith,
has chosen you, he’s Is’rael’s Holy One.”

Thus says the LORD: It was, of favor, when,
a time, I answered you, and it was on
salvation’s day, was when I have helped you.
I have formed you and destined you to be
a light for peoples, making it anew,
the land, returning ravaged properties;
to say to all the prisoners, “Go free,”
to those in darkness, “Come, yourselves, reveal.”
Along the roadway, they will graze and feed,
on all the bare heights shall their pasture be.
They will not hunger, neither shall they thirst;
not scorching heat nor sun will, them, distress,
for he who pities them will be their lead,
and, springs of water, them, beside, he’ll guide.
Straight through my mountains, I’ll, a road, divide,
and upwards, all my highways will be raised.
See, some of them will come from far away.
Look, these are from the north and from the west,
and some, from Syene’s land, where they’ve progressed.

You heavens, shout for joy, rejoice, O earth;
you mountains, into song, you should break forth!
For how the LORD, his people, has consoled
and, on his suff’ring ones, compassion, shows.
But Zion said, “The LORD’s forgotten me,
my Lord, no longer, in his mind, me, keeps.”
How can a woman ever, him, forget,
her nursing child, or feel no tenderness
for, of her womb, the child that she begets.
Yet even if she would, these ones, forget,
I never shall forget you.  I’ve inscribed
upon the palms of my two hands, your name,
so that your walls are always in my sight.
Those who rebuild you, better speed, they make
than those who tore you down and laid you waste.
Now they, from you, flee, and they go away.
Around you, look, and your eyes, upwards, raise;
they are assembling, flocking back to you.
It’s by my life, the LORD’s, how I now swear,
you’ll put them on like they were glitt’ring jewels
and like a bride’s adornments, them, you’ll wear.

Indeed, I made you desolate and waste.
It’s to the ground, the place where I, you, razed,
but now the land is too small of a place
for its inhabitants while they who made
you to a ruin are now far away.
Once more, within your hearing, they will say,
the children, those who were born in the days
of your bereavement, “Too cramped is this place
for me; so I can live, room, for me, make.”
Then to yourself, this is what you will say,
“Who has, me, borne these? Barren, how I felt,
and too, bereaved, was exiled, put away–
so who’s reared these–I, all alone, was left–
where then did these come from, where is the place?”

Thus says the LORD God: I will beckon soon,
the nations, and my signal, I’ll make known
to all the peoples.  They shall bring your sons
within their bosom, and their shoulders, on,
your daughters will be carried, every one.
Then, kings, your foster fathers, what they’ll be,
and, as your nursing mothers, are their queens.
They’ll bow down to you with humility,
their faces to the ground, and from your feet,
they’ll lick the dust.  Then, you, with certainty,
will know that I’m the LORD, and who, in me,
will place their hope, to shame, put, will not be.

Can booty, taken, from a warrior, be,
or can the tyrant’s captives be set free?
But thus the LORD says, Captives will indeed
be, from the tyrant warrior, snatched away
and rescued from the ruthless is the prey;
for I myself will be he who contends
with those who are contending, you, against,
and I’ll deliver, children, your, from them.
Those ones who in the past have, you, oppressed,
what I’ll make them consume: it’s their own flesh,
and they will be as drunk on, blood, their own
as if with wine, and all mankind will know
that I’m the LORD who is your Savior sure,
and Jacob’s Mighty One, Redeemer, your.

Rhyming Isaiah, Chapter 48

Hear this, O House of Jacob, who are called
by Is’rael’s name, and who came forth from them,
from Judah’s loins; you who swear by the name,
that of the LORD, and who invoke the God
of Is’rael, but it’s not with honesty
or justice.  For you call yourselves, that way,
as, of the Holy City, citizens,
and, on the God of Is’rael, you depend;
the LORD of hosts, the way that he is named.

The former things, declared, I, long ago;
my mouth, they went from there, them, known, I made;
then suddenly, I did them and they came
to pass.  Because, about you, this I know,
that you are obstinate, your stubbornness,
how iron forms the sinews of your neck,
and that your forehead has been made of brass,
these things that I declared in former days,
I told you them before they came to pass,
I did this so you couldn’t make this claim,
“My idol did them, all them, it ordained,
the image that I carved, the one I cast.”
Now that you’ve heard, now that you see all this,
must you, the truth of it, now, not admit?
From now on I announce new things to you,
things hidden that, before, you never knew.
They are created now, not long ago,
before today, your ears, them, ne’er construed.
You cannot claim, “Them, I already know.”
These things, you neither knew nor ever heard,
because from long ago, were closed, your ears.
For I knew, utterly, you’re treacherous
and from your birth, you’ve been rebellious.

For my name’s sake, my anger, I restrain.
I won’t destroy you so I will be praised.
Look, purchased, you, I’ve, but for silver, not;
how, from affliction’s cauldron, I have out,
you, chosen, for my sake, for my own sake.
I do it so my name won’t be profaned,
or to another god, my glory, yield.

O Jacob, listen to me, Israel,
whom I have called.  It’s I and no one else.
I am the first, I also am the last.
The earth’s foundations were laid by my hand.
When I call them, they, at attention, stand.

Assemble, all of you, and listen close!
Who has, amongst you, all of these things, told?
The one the LORD loves, what he shall perform,
on Babylon, his purpose, and his arm
shall be ‘gainst the Chaldeans.  I myself
have spoken, I have called him, and as well,
I’ve brought him, and his mission will succeed.
Hear what I have to say, draw near to me!
The first, from, I’ve not spake with secrecy.
I have been present ‘till it came to be.
The LORD God sent his spirit and sent me.

The Holy One of Is’rael, thus, the LORD
says, your Redeemer, I, who am your God,
the LORD, who teaches you for your own good,
who leads you in the way, that, go, you should.
O that, to my commandments, you gave heed
then how it would have, your prosperity,
been like a river, forward it proceeds,
and your success, just like the seas, their waves.
your offspring would have been just like the sand
and your descendants countless like its grains;
their name, it never would have been erased
or, from my presence, blotted out, ne’er be.

Go out from Babylon and, from there, flee,
Chaldea; this, declare with shouts of joy,
it, publish, to the ends of earth and say,
“The LORD, his servant, Jacob, has redeemed!”
They did not thirst though through there, them, he lead,
the desert wastes.  Out from the rock, how he,
the water, made it flow, how it, in streams,
gushed forth once he, the rock, in two, had cleaved.
The LORD says, “For the wicked, there’s no peace.”